Katie Whalen's guest appearances

Katie Whalen

Circular Economy Podcast

Simple sustainable connections - The EarthyB podcast with Rebecca B. Kimber

Enterprise Excellence Podcast with Brad Jeavons

Bob Simpson

Dave Stachowiak

Richard James

Charles Ross

Ryan Edwards

Michael Sanders

Jo Chidley

Ron Moore

Katie Anderson

Dan Pink

James Kerr

Tom Harper

Mark Graban

Renee Smith

Christian van Maaren

OwlTail

Introduction Welcome to episode 32 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast. I am so pleased to have you on the show today. Dr Katherine Whalen or Katie is the host of the "Getting in the Loop" Podcast and a researcher in sustainable business at RISE research institute of Sweden. Katie has dedicated her career to helping create a better future environmentally. Let's get into the episode.  SummaryHave you got one or maybe four (the Australian average is four) phones sitting in a drawer at your home? Instead of these phones collecting dust in our drawers, a closing loop system would look to companies offering incentives to buy back the phones and recycle them to obtain the precious materials to use again. A Belgium company is doing this and can save one kg of gold from four tonnes of phones. Katie believes the figure for obtaining gold from ore is immensely more than that: 200 tonnes of ore to get one kg of gold. Is it more efficient than collecting gold from phones or ore? Katie says the energy consumption of both practices needs to be analysed! Key Take-AwaysThe key takeaway from this episode was to think of your organisation's system as a whole when considering ways to improve towards a circular economy. Without doing this, there is a risk that you make a gain in one area that produces an impact in another. There are many techniques you can use to achieve this; one of the best I find is cradle to cradle customer journey mapping. This technique allows you to map your customer's experience, organisations systems and environmental impact in the one approach with the customer front and centre and circularity in mind. It is a great technique to help an organisation innovate and improve, which will create additional value and delight for customers and reduce environmental impact. Quotes05:24min Basically, the idea behind the circular economy is trying to decouple economic activity from finite resource consumption. And the way that circular economy champions that is by modelling the economic system off of natural ones that are regenerative and cyclical. 11.02min Essentially, slowing can be thought of as extending the useful life of products, and closing is kind of like, extending the useful life of materials. 18:56min The dominant business logic is this, like, as you said, just pushing things out and having these short cycles. And then you're trying to do slowing and closing loops. It really contrasts with that, and trying to find a way to extend product lifetimes and have your business be financially viable is this contrast with this pushing and with having a new thing every season.22:12min I sometimes say that I think that circular economy is like design thinking meets sustainability. Because, you know, design thinking is about understanding the user, working towards a solution that is first and foremost desirable from a human perspective but then also feasible and economically viable. And then sustainability is kind of like, how can we make products less fad and how can we do better for the environment? But then, to me, circular economy mixes them together. LinksKatherine's LinkedIn Account: linkedin.com/in/katherinewhalenWebsite: intheloopgame.com  (Company Website)Email: katherineawhalen@gmail.comTwitter: whalenkaEbook - Free circular sectors navigator: To learn more about what we do, visit www.enterpriseexcellenceacademy.com.Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.

Introduction Welcome to episode 32 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast. I am so pleased to have you on the show today. Dr Katherine Whalen or Katie is the host of the "Getting in the Loop" Podcast and a researcher in sustainable business at RISE research institute of Sweden. Katie has dedicated her career to helping create a better future environmentally. Let's get into the episode.  SummaryHave you got one or maybe four (the Australian average is four) phones sitting in a drawer at your home? Instead of these phones collecting dust in our drawers, a closing loop system would look to companies offering incentives to buy back the phones and recycle them to obtain the precious materials to use again. A Belgium company is doing this and can save one kg of gold from four tonnes of phones. Katie believes the figure for obtaining gold from ore is immensely more than that: 200 tonnes of ore to get one kg of gold. Is it more efficient than collecting gold from phones or ore? Katie says the energy consumption of both practices needs to be analysed! Key Take-AwaysThe key takeaway from this episode was to think of your organisation's system as a whole when considering ways to improve towards a circular economy. Without doing this, there is a risk that you make a gain in one area that produces an impact in another. There are many techniques you can use to achieve this; one of the best I find is cradle to cradle customer journey mapping. This technique allows you to map your customer's experience, organisations systems and environmental impact in the one approach with the customer front and centre and circularity in mind. It is a great technique to help an organisation innovate and improve, which will create additional value and delight for customers and reduce environmental impact. Quotes05:24min Basically, the idea behind the circular economy is trying to decouple economic activity from finite resource consumption. And the way that circular economy champions that is by modelling the economic system off of natural ones that are regenerative and cyclical. 11.02min Essentially, slowing can be thought of as extending the useful life of products, and closing is kind of like, extending the useful life of materials. 18:56min The dominant business logic is this, like, as you said, just pushing things out and having these short cycles. And then you're trying to do slowing and closing loops. It really contrasts with that, and trying to find a way to extend product lifetimes and have your business be financially viable is this contrast with this pushing and with having a new thing every season.22:12min I sometimes say that I think that circular economy is like design thinking meets sustainability. Because, you know, design thinking is about understanding the user, working towards a solution that is first and foremost desirable from a human perspective but then also feasible and economically viable. And then sustainability is kind of like, how can we make products less fad and how can we do better for the environment? But then, to me, circular economy mixes them together. LinksKatherine's LinkedIn Account: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinewhalen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">linkedin.com/in/katherinewhalen</a>Website: <a href="http://www.intheloopgame.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">intheloopgame.com  </a>(Company Website)Email: <a href="mailto:katherineawhalen@gmail.com">katherineawhalen@gmail.com</a>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/whalenka" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">whalenka</a>Ebook - Free circular sectors navigator: <a href="https://intheloopgame.com/product/circular-sectors-navigator-ebook/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>To learn more about what we do, visit <a href="https://www.enterpriseexcellenceacademy.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.enterpriseexcellenceacademy.com</a>. Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.

#32 How to slow the environmental loop in a circular economy with Katie Whalen

In this episode, I interview Katie Whalen, the host of the Getting in the Loop podcast about circular economy basics, and why it's important for our environment and economy.  She explains the concept behind slowing loops and closing loops, and uses cell phones as an example. We also discuss how the idea of a circular economy is seen in the United States compared to Europe. For example, we talk mostly about zero waste and sustainability in the United States. In Europe, the importance of transitioning to a circular economy is more widely accepted. Finally, we discuss the challenges associated with getting to a circular economy.  Katie is an enlightening, knowledgeable and easy to understand expert in all things circular economy. She is currently getting her Ph.D. in circular economy at Lund University in Sweden. She is also one of the teachers in Coursera's Circular Economy course.  I hope you enjoy the episode and share it with friends and family who are interested in sustainability and the economy. 

In this episode, I interview Katie Whalen, the host of the Getting in the Loop podcast about circular economy basics, and why it's important for our environment and economy.  She explains the concept behind slowing loops and closing loops, and uses cell phones as an example. We also discuss how the idea of a circular economy is seen in the United States compared to Europe. For example, we talk mostly about zero waste and sustainability in the United States. In Europe, the importance of transitioning to a circular economy is more widely accepted. Finally, we discuss the challenges associated with getting to a circular economy.  Katie is an enlightening, knowledgeable and easy to understand expert in all things circular economy. She is currently getting her Ph.D. in circular economy at Lund University in Sweden. She is also one of the teachers in Coursera's Circular Economy course.  I hope you enjoy the episode and share it with friends and family who are interested in sustainability and the economy.

Circular Economy 101 with Katie Whalen

Katie Whalen of In the Loop AB has developed two circular economy games, including the well-known In the Loop game for schools and businesses and the new Risk and Race circular business model game.Katie is currently researching business aspects of the circular economy at Lund University.  We talk about how to engage people to help them understand the benefits and impacts of circular approaches, and Katie tells us about some of her favourite circular economy businesses.

Katie Whalen of In the Loop AB has developed two circular economy games, including the well-known In the Loop game for schools and businesses and the new Risk and Race circular business model game. Katie is currently researching business aspects of the circular economy at Lund University. We talk about how to engage people to help them understand the benefits and impacts of circular approaches, and Katie tells us about some of her favourite circular economy businesses.

Episode 7 Katie Whalen – fun and games with the circular economy